GXR P10 Field Report: Final Verdict

What is the Question?

Whether it is a marketing strategy or a fait accompli, the GXR is sitting nicely in its niche market.  This is not intended to be a compliment.  The GXR plus modules is a brilliant idea if Ricoh adopted the pricing strategy of Samsung, which is good value for money – simply put, at a more affordable price.

This is especially true to people buying the GXR concept who focus mainly on the ability to use modules fitted with a APS-C sensor.  It is auguable whether they are the majority; but probably they are.   Therefore, to buy or not to buy the P10 is not the question.  The right, and also the first, question should be, "Do you have faith in the direction of the system?"  Bear in mind that since the advent of GXR, the market has been quickly filled with decent choices which are sold at a mouthwatering price with a readily available lens system for expansion.

Unless the camera is aimed at the consumer level, which GXR is not, the potential photographer-buyers always cherry-pick their acquisitions on account of sensible factors.  System expansion, pricing and image quality are the three dominating ones.

For that matter, the second question to be asked may be, "Do you rather spend the money that way?"

In a nutshell. the answer is not in the system or the performance of the modules, but the positioning of the concept under the current keen market competition, not least because the GXR boosts a different rationale as compared with the norm.

As evidenced by the widely circulated roadmap, Ricoh certainly has thought up a good plan to expand the system to some interesting realms.  Let's hope that there will be more modules with bigger sensor and even, as some photographers have proposed, MFT sensor to give the system an additional dimension of interest and customer base.  At a more reasonable price, prefereably.

 

So, as good as the P10 module can get, it features just a tiny sensor. The chance of seeing a person buying the GXR body just for the P10 is few and far between. The existing and potential owners of the P10 are looking more forward to more modules with larger sensors, which brings us back to the previous two questions.

Sexist Parts of the GXR Body

With 20 years of experience in photography under my belt, I can easily recommend the GXR system for photographers who know what they are doing with the photographic settings, or users who love street photography and wish to do candid shots of people in the street without being chased away.   I have to confess that I really like the way the GXR system works:

-  The swift operation of sliding in and out the modules without worrying about dust getting in the sensor when changing the lenses (modules), which is not what you can imagine without trying it.

-  The handling of the controls and settings on the GXR body is top-notch in its class.  I have no hesitation in saying that it surpasses lots of entry and enthusiast-level DSLRs in ergonomics.

-  The flexibility for customising a wide array of settings helps users exercise their  photographic creativity and grow with the system.

-  Yes, its modest but serious outlook as what you can expect from a camera for photographers, not videogaming dudes.

The Good and Bad of P10

On the basis of the above, if you love the GXR body, you may consider the P10 on account of its performance scores:

- good in focal coverage

- good in IQ up to ISO 400

- just okay in IQ at ISO 800

- excellent in AWB and exposure metering for P/A/S modes

- excellent in flexibility by the strength of the GXR (for GXR owners, the P10 is much preferred to the CX3 or CX4 for this reason)

- okay in giving out RAWs, of which the advantages are not obvious over the JPEGs

- unsatisfactory in pricing, taking into account of the on-cost of the GXR body

- we don't care about the video capability of cameras really.  No score for this item.

If you have missed the previous posts of this field report, go here, here and here.

(Kudos to Laikok for lending us the GXR P10 and CX3)